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Slow, over time...

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The real way to build credit if you have none and/or bad credit is to sign up for a secured credit card. I'm not going to suggest one, but will advise you to take a close look at all of them. Some can become "unsecured" over time. Others never will. Most will have annual fees. Some will have "rewards" that you can earn. Take everything into consideration. This site provides reviews on a good number of them. Read the good ones as well as the bad ones.

Whatever card you go with, make sure that you never use more than 20% of the available credit. And pay in full when your bill is due to avoid interest charges.

After a year or so of this, you should be able to apply for more credit of the "unsecured" variety. At that point, put some small recurring charge on the secured card (netflix as an example). You want continued usage and continued payment history, even if you only use 1-2% of the available credit. You'll want to do most of your business on the new card, with presumably a higher credit limit. Still though, you do not want to go over 20% available credit.

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